OmnilpgsThgrsday, November, 1 7,. 19883
Edited4Tele vision: Trash
is dominating the networks
By WtfJSTON P. LLOYD
Staff Writer
About three weeks ago, Time
magazine featured television as its
cover story specifically, the
dwindling share of the audience
captured by the three major
networks. This week, it's News
week's turn to try to explain how
the networks and their affiliates
are attempting to lure the
audience back from cable and pay
TV.
The magazine tries to grab a
reader by editorializing on the
cover: "TRASH TV: From the Lurid
To the Loud, Anything Goes" along
with the television image of
Ceraldo Rivera and his broken nose.
A couple of weeks ago, a taping
of "Ceraldo" titled "Teen Hate
mongers" erupted into violence.
What has been called "confron
tainment" centered on an inter
view with John Metzger a
mostly articulate and seemingly
intelligent, albeit racist, young
man representing the White
Aryan Resistance Youth - and
black activist Roy Innis. The pro
gram centered on why the
"Aryan" thinks the way he does,
and it included a lot of name
calling. Metzger is a disgrace to this
country, and he was often told
that. He in turn insulted every
ethnic group in the world, and
upon referring to Jews as "kikes"
and innis as "uncle Tom," he was
attacked by the black activist
Now, Rivera claimed he never
expected violence. But if youH
remember, several months ago,
innis caused a scuffle with the Rev.
Al Sharpton on the "Morton Dow
ney Jr. Show." And when innis
walked over to Metzger, before
starting to choke him, Rivera gave
him a reassuring "go ahead,"
allowing innis to stand in front of
the seated racist. How irresponsi
ble can Ceraldo be?
Although during the argument
everyone agreed with innis that
Metzger and company were
By CATHY MCHUCH
Omnibus Editor
Just what is in a name any
way? In a conversation with a
friend of mine the other day, we
started talking about words that
are fun to say. She says she's
going to name her children after
four of her most favorite words:
Bubbles, Pebbles, Bulge and Fart.
I'm not making this up. And I
thought people who named their
kids Irving, Myron, Cecil, Dirk,
Marshall, Jerome, or ima, Inez,
embarrassments to all thinking
people, innis was completely
absolved of his violence. Sticks and
stones? No. But the words hurt
him, and he attacked the opposi
tion in the argument irresponsible
television and irresponsible jour
nalism resulted in the stifling of
the free speech of the racists. And
Ceraldo condoned the violence
when he threw out the racists and
continued the interview with the
man who began the fight
This just goes to show the
scruples of a man who may be on
the right side of an argument but
the wrong side of a violent
encounter. Rivera is the same man
who studied satanism, complete
with discussions of skinning babies,
during the early 8 p.m time period
when children are watching. (Of
course, part of the fault here lies
also with NBC) Ceraldo may be the
King of Tabloid TV but he's not the
only one.
Phil Donahue began the format
with the best of intentions. His
show was once a forum for mainly
political or social discussions, or
often for in-depth interviews with
celebrities. But now with his new
competition, Oprah, Sally Jesse
Raphael and Ceraldo, Phil wrestles
women dressed in lingerie on
national television. Ceraldo mud
wrestles. What is this? Hulk Hogan
meets "60 Minutes"?
Which brings me to another
question: Isn't this sensationalism
and trash simply an evolution of
"60 Minutes"? The two even over
lap. Newsweek cites Rivera's "tit
ilating expose of sexual abuse by
doctors" but you may recall "60
Minutes" discussing the same thing
last season. And in the way Mike
Wallace, et al, try to find someone
and turn a story into an indict
ment, as with Audi or Gen. William
Westmoreland, the current tab
loid television shows openly make
enemies out of some of their
guests. In a way, Morton Downey
Jr. seems more honest, by coming
Ezmerelda, Prunella or Penelope
were sadists.
One of my staff members
believes that no one really likes
their own name. (Of course, his
name is Richard, and maybe he's
gotten too many of those Dick
jokes aimed at him.) My design
editor was almost named Diana
instead of Laura. Yes, Diana Ross
could be designing these beauti
ful pages. Personally, I can think
of worse alternatives to being
named Catherine Mary McHugh.
It's better than Virginia, which
was almost my fate.
One of the editors knew a
family who named their kids
after planets. Yes, Mars and
Saturn are happily living in Mary
land, and, if their parents were
to have another child, Venus
right out and letting us know he
thinks the guest is an idiot. But
"60 Minutes" works under the
guise of "objective" journalism.
The Fox network's "The Report
ers" was one of the first to have
an in-depth story on the Mike
TysonRobin Civens problem. Tab
loid TV? Later "2020" had Barbara
Walters interview the two, with
admissions of Tyson being under
the influence of certain prescrip
tion drugs. Responsible rejxxting?
And the highly respected "Night
line" grabbed one of its highest
ratings with an interview of Jim
and Tammy Bakker. A pseudo
story at best
Everyone does it The respected
and the openly cheap. From "60
Minutes" to "A Current Affair." The
fact remains that if people will
watch it, it will be aired.
For years there have been com
plaints about violence on televi
sion. "Miami Vice" is usually criti
cized more than "America's Most
wanted." But the latter shows real
violence, or at least reinacted, and
people know that it really hap
pened, isnt that much worse than
a fictional Crockett shooting a
fictional drug dealer? And even
news footage of President Reagan
getting shot, with James Brady on
the ground, can be disturbing to
children, but violence and emo
tional trauma are what we like to
see. Remember the "Saturday
Night Uve" takeoff on "Nightline"
when Buckwheat was shot? Con
stantly repeated were-, "in case
you havent seen the videotape,
let's take a look," and the adver
tiser's logo. "SNL," although often
pushing the limits of taste itself,
made an immensely correct com
ment on the state of television.
We want disaster, and advertisers
want to support what we will
watch.
For instance, expect to see more
on the death of John Kennedy
than on his life now that we are
reaching the 25th anniversary of
would soon follow. Maybe Moon
Unit and Dweezil Zappa could join
them.
Lucky for him his parents didn't
do this to him, although Marshall
was one of the possibilities. His
mom wanted to name him Kyle,
but his dad's name is Lyle and she
pronounces it Lau. His dad said
he didnt want her to call his son
Kan. If he'd grown up with a
weight problem, this could have
been very psychologically
damaging.
All of this blather leads me to
some real news. There's a certain
class (and I use that word loosely)
of people who have truly crea
tive names. Now just as a rose
by any other name may smell as .
sweet, a man called "Big Man'.'!
who weighs 299 pounds probably '
his assassination. We've already
had Jack Anderson trying to prove
a conspiracy, and "112263: The
Day the Nation Cried" centered
more on the unfolding drama of
Kennedy's death than on the
man's life . . . or his presidency.
But since the viewer can get all
the sex and violence he wants on
Cinemax or MTV, the networks and
their affiliates are pulling out all
the stops. Whether it be satanic
ritual killings, transsexuals or the
growing use of "bitch" and "ass"
in prime time, networks are get
ting less tame. Their Standards and
Practices departments are nearly
shouldn't be called anything else.
At least not within his hearing
range. It might surprise you to
learn that this man is a compet
itor in the Triad's ninth annual
"Toughman Contest"
I dont know where I've been
since 1979, but I've never heard
of it. But Greensboro Coliseum
thoughtfully sent a press release
to our thirsty-for-news office
about this fine event (I think they
termed it a "slug fest"), which is
set for Friday and Saturday.
The release promises that this
will be "a wild and wooly show
with a good mix of old regulars."
I'm sure they're a fun bunch of
guys. Newcomers will include
Kernersville's Porky Speakman
v . . See G RAFFFFl page 8
gone, and producers of "LA Law"
or "St Elsewhere" week after
week try to see what they can
get away with.
So "Ceraldo!" should come as no
surprise in the desperation to raise
that bottom line. Besides, his
satanism special was the highest
rated two-hour documentary in
the history of television.
La Residence
Thanksgiving
Dinner
s eatings from 5 to 9
reservations recommended
967-2506
2.2Q V. Rosemary St. . .
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